Operation: Remnant Freedom
by BrainZnBullets
Summary: A Fireteam of U.S Marines during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 get sent out into a whole new world. Let's see what these Devil dog's from OP: Iraqi Freedom can do.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, after two years, I've decided to re-do the S.A.S story but instead do it based off of** **something I know more about and take some spins off it. Strap in because this ride has just begun.**

Location: Baghdad, Iraq

Date and Time: 1637 Local Time. April 3rd, 2003

Identification: Lance Corporal Smith, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

My platoon's convoy of Humvee's were rolling through the streets of Baghdad, this place is a total shit show. Civilians needing medical care, food, water and other essentials. This is coupled with the occasional Iraqi's wanting to play "Shoot the Americans" This is easily dealt with from a couple rounds from our lead **Vic's** MK19, a grenade launcher.

So many people were walking around, going about their day. Every now and then, I thought about which one of these people might be shooting at us the next day, it could be that one... That one, or maybe even that one.

A sudden burst of snaps and what seem to be pops break me out of my train of thought as the Gunner of the lead Humvee in the convoy shouts "Contact two o'clock!" Before shooting the MK19 at the Iraqi's shooting at us.

Since I was currently in the second Humvee of the convoy with my fireteam, Lance Corporal Lynn, the **M2** Gunner and the **0331** Machine Gunner of the **fireteam** starts firing some bursts off into the general direction the first Humvee fired upon.

"What the fuck man, don't these fucking guys know we've won the war already!?" The youngest of our fireteam, the driver of the Humvee and the Assistant Automatic Rifleman, PFC. Lockhart exclaimed.

"We've been shot at all the way up here, this is the capital my friend. Could be more Iraqi's that want to play" Our fireteam leader, Corporal Wesson said.

Shortly after Wesson said that, he noticed a silhouette of a shadow appearing on one of the many rooftops.

"Smith, I got eyes on a shadow on the rooftop of the two-story to our one o'clock, range is fifty metres. You see it?"

I aimed my **M16A4** in the general direction, setting the **Chevron** of my **ACOG** on the body of the silhouette of the person "Roger, Corporal. I got eyes on it" I said, unconsciously flicking the selector switch of my rifle to Semi-automatic. Just the added second to switch your selector switch can be a matter of life or death out here, makes you really develop habits like this.

Upon seeing the silhouette back away from the roof, I stopped aiming through the optic. "Turned him away Corporal." I said

Shortly after a loud explosion went off behind us, dust and sand scattered everywhere, affecting our vision.

"All Vic's dismount! Fives and fifteens, punch out! set up security!" Our Platoon Commander, 1st Lieutenant Kennedy stated over black gear

My team and I quickly dismounted from our Humvee, keeping Lynn on the .50 in case any more of these guys wanted to play.

I moved down the convoy to the fourth Vic "Two-Four". It was fucked up, I ran over to where one of my friends, Corporal Callahan was laying on the ground with the lower half of his leg a couple metres away from him. A Corpsman was already tending to him, a tourniquet fastened on his thigh.

"Is my dick okay!?" Callahan asked the Corpsman anxiously.

"Your dick is fine, just focus on me. Breathe" The Corpsman said before getting on black gear

"We're going to need a **CASEVAC**! Stand-by for a **Nine-Line**."

Taking a step back, I looked at the rooftop where we saw the silhouette. It had to be that motherfucker, no doubt about it. I ran back over to my fireteam to explain the situation.

"Wesson, I think the **I.E.D** was set off from that fucker on the rooftop, I suggest we clear the building and search for the bastard. What do you think?" I asked.

"I'll request permission right now." Corporal Wesson said, hitting the push-to talk button on black gear. "Bravo Two-Actual, this is Two-Two. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy Two-Two. Send your traffic, over." Our platoon commander said over the radio.

"Bravo Two-Actual, request permission to take my fireteam and clear out a building of a suspected I.E.D detonator. It's on my three, range at thirty metres, it's a two-story building."

"Permission granted" The platoon commander said. Wesson nodded before getting the rest of our fireteam to rally up at our Humvee.

"Alright Marines, we're gonna clear that building. Sweep for that Iraqi that detonated that I.E.D. 'Rah?" Wesson said to Lynn and Lockhart.

"Kill!" They said, nodding their heads in acknowledgement.

We ran over to the building, stacking up on the wall on the left of the door, Lynn in the rear covering our backs, Lockhart as the third man ready to breach after me, the second man in the stack. Wesson kicked in the door, instantly going in and doing a button hook into the left corner of the room, I busted in right after, going into the right corner.

"Right clear!" I said, followed by Wesson saying "Left clear! Hallway clear! Lynn, Lockhart, check that room on the left! Smith, with me let's check the right." Wesson said, already moving to the door to the right, me stacking beside him. He looked towards me as a way to ask if I'm ready, I nodded before he kicked the door in, yet again button hooking into the left while I go right.

"Left clear!" Wesson said, with me soon following with my side being clear. We could hear Lynn and Lockhart saying the same in their room so we moved back into the hallway. "Floor clear! Let's move up to the second floor" Wesson said, already positioning himself to be able to move up the stairs when we were all ready.

I got behind him, Lynn and Lockhart got behind me and I had a hand get put on my left shoulder. I put my hand on Wesson's to signal our fireteam was ready to go.

We slowly went up the stairs, it was an open staircase so Wesson was watching up the stairs, I was watching to the left, Lynn was watching behind in case there was a corner upstairs where an Iraqi could shoot us from, Lockhart covered the stairway entrance. There was no hallway or additional rooms on this floor so we started heading up to the roof, we did the same movement except since it was a closed staircase, Lynn and I didn't need to cover a piece of the **pie** As soon as we got up, we saw the Iraqi on the roof, detonator in hand.

"DROP IT!" Wesson shouted at the Iraqi, holding his M16A4 in his right hand and motioning with the other, the Iraqi looked at us, spitting on the ground before saying two words

"Fuck Americans"

*Click*

Location: Baghdad, Iraq

Date and Time: 1712 Local Time. April 3rd, 2003

Identification: 1st Lieutenant. Kennedy, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

"Two-Two's clearing the house out there, should receive word in a bi-"

A loud explosion went off, shaking the ground, sand and rubble falling onto the streets as the building Two-Two was in was clouded in it. The CASEVAC that arrived ten minutes prior waited for the cloud of dust and sand to clear up before moving in to find the four Marines that went in there. I sent up a fireteam to help search for the Two-Two and we spent an hour looking for the Marines in the rubble. We came up with nothing.

**Vic: Shortened term of "Victor" to mean Vehicle.**

**Fireteam: A team made up of four Marines, usually led by a Corporal or Sergeant.**

**M2: A Machine gun chambered in .50 Cal, usually mounted on vehicles.**

**0331: Automatic Rifleman/ Machine Gunner occupation for the United States Marine Corps.**

**M16A4: A Rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm.**

**Chevron: Arch-shape, used for Enlisted Ranks and in this case, the ACOG.**

**ACOG: A 4x sight.**

**CASEVAC: Casualty Evacuation.**

**Nine-Line: A report of a Casualty**

**I.E.D: Improvised Explosive Device.**

**Pie: Slang for a section of a room.**

***Disclaimer: I am not Active Duty, nor am I Reserves, I am a Army Cadet trying to work on my writing skills by writing about things I am very passionate about***


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Location: Unknown

Date and Time: Unknown

Identification: Lance Corporal Smith, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.

Nausea alongside with a headache was all I could feel upon waking up in the sand. I laid there in the sand, trying to regain memory as to what happened. I remember two-four getting fucked up and clearing the building with the suspected detonator... Wait, that's right! We got blown up.

I've seen this thing in a movie before, the Marine or Soldiers in question would look down at their legs after being blown up only to see stumps. Don't look, just stand up.

I stood up, the feeling of my legs bringing relief to me. I reached for my rifle, inspecting it to make sure it was still serviceable before looking around.

Nothing but sand, sand hills and dead bushes were here. It confused the hell out of me though, I was in Baghdad, an urban centre before the I.E.D and so in theory, I should still be there

My Fireteam, Corporal Wesson, Lance Corporal Lynn, Private First Class Lockhart. They were in the building with me, I had to find them.

"Wesson! Lynn! Lockhart!" I shouted, awaiting a response from anyone of them.

I walked onto one of the larger hills, a higher elevation was better for observation after all.

About three hundred metres away from me was one of my guys laid on his stomach, his M16A2 laid out a couple metres away from him. I ran over as fast as I could with my full combat load, I didn't care about my throbbing headache anymore.

Upon reaching him, I flipped him over and instantly knew it was Lockhart. I put my index and middle finger on his neck, finding a pulse.

I looked up and down his body to see if any blood was forming up. After a few seconds of looking I pulled out my canteen to see if I could wake him up through splashing him with it.

Instantly upon pouring water on him, his eyes shot open, gasping for air before wiping his face with his eyes.

"What the fuck Smith? You didn't have to do that you motherfucker" Lockhart said, still wiping the water off his face.

"Give me your name, your rank and your assignment" I said

"Private Ryan Lockhart, One-Seven Bravo." He said, looking around.

"And I am?"

"Lance Corporal Andrew Smith, 0311 Rifleman, One-Seven Bravo"

I nodded before asking "What do you last remember"

"The I.E.D detonator, shit! Lance Corporal, where the fuck are we?" Lockhart said, grabbing his rifle out of the sand and inspecting it.

"I don't know but something tells me we're not in Baghdad right now, in the same neighborhood we were atleast." I said, walking up to one of the sand hills again.

A sound of an engine revving was familiar. I looked towards where I heard it only to see a Humvee driving towards Lockhart and I. I could see Lynn on the M2 and our Fireteam Leader, Wesson in the driver seat.

They drove up beside Lockhart and I before Wesson opened his door, stepped out and with a shit eating grin said "You boys lost?"

"Fuck off" I said, before walking over to the rear driver side door and getting in, Wesson got in the passenger side and Lockhart got into the driver's seat.

"Wesson, you know where we are?" Lockhart asked, looking away from the sand in front of us for a second

"I got no fucking clue, the radio isn't picking up anything. Lock, drive around until we find a hamlet or village of some sort."

I positioned my rifle out the window, resting the handguard on the door. Hostiles could be hiding behind any one of these hills.

As we passed one of the hills, I saw a village about seven kilometers out from our location.

"Corporal, I got eyes on a village to our nine, about seven clicks out."

"Lock, take left turn. Let's talk to the village elders, get some whereabouts of our location

We drove until we were five hundred meters out from the village, Lockhart turned the engine off before looking at Wesson for orders.

"Lockhart, Lynn, set up security and cover Smith and I while we talk to the village elders." He looked me in the eyes before nodding and leaving the Humvee, I followed by dismounting out from my side, running to catch up with him.

Upon reaching the village, we found a male villager leaving their house, Wesson greeted them to gain their attention.

"Assalamualaikum!" Wesson said, waving to them. The person in question looked at us confused, walking over to us before talking

"Yes? How may I help you?" The man asked, his eyebrows slanted in confusion.

Realizing they spoke English, I responded. "Hey, do you have a map and can you show us what town we're in?"

"Yes, let me grab it now." The villager entered his hut, after a few minutes of waiting they came back out, a map in their hand as well as a sharpie.

Upon opening the map, soon realized this was a map of a whole continent.

"What continent is this?" Wesson asked, looking up and down the map

"What's a continent? This is the Kingdom of Vacuo. You're in the town of Surkiyan." The villager said, marking an area on the map.

Kingdom? What the fuck is with that shit? To my knowledge there were no castles in Iraq.

"Do you have a map with all the Kingdoms?" I asked on a whim, perhaps if there was one kingdom there'd be multiple?

"Flip the map around" The villager said

Wesson flipped the map to the backside to see four different continents, names over each continent read the words "Atlas, Mistral, Vale and Vacuo"

"Wesson, you ever see this anywhere on earth? I don't think this matches any of our continents?" I said, analysing the map over and over

"Earth? What's Earth?" The villager looked at the two of us confused.

"Our planet, what do you mean what is it?" Wesson asked, genuinely concerned on the sanity of the villager.

"Our planet is Remnant, what do you mean what do I mean? Have you been living under a rock?" The villager asked, obviously questioning our sanity as well.

"Grimm! Everybody get to your home's! They're coming!" A villager shouted, getting everyone to panic, running into their houses.

People with weapons such as swords and other sorts of blunt and sharp objects came out of their huts, getting ready for the incoming group of hostiles

"They're coming from the North! Aqua, Black, Ivory, I want you three to watch to the South. Olive, Shamrock, Fern, post up to the East. Cobalt, Azure, Denim, watch the west. The rest of you guys come with me, we got the spearhead of the attack!" One of the defenders shouted to the group

Wesson and I looked to eachother before signalling Lockhart to drive the Humvee over, once they got here they both dismounted from the Humvee.

"Gents, there's a group known as Grimm coming in from the North, I'm assuming they're hostile if they have the villagers in a panic. Mount up and let's go help these guys out, build up a relationship with the local populace."

We all mounted up, brass checking our weapons to ensure we were ready for the firefight to ensue before positioning our Humvee in the front of the defenders and getting out, leaving Lynn in the Humvee as the turret.

"Where the hell did you guys come from" The man that we saw ordering the defense asked, looking at our Humvee and our weapons

"Heard you needed help" Wesson stated

"You guys Huntsman?" The man asked

"Huntsman? We're U.S Marines" I said

"Well whatever you are, I'm just glad to see you, apparently we've got a shit ton of Grimm coming in due to the loss of one of our village elders. It brought a lot of negative thoughts and whatnot, y'know?"

"I'm sorry for your villages loss." I said before turning around and getting on line with Lockhart.

"Using the 249 for this one?" I said, looking at the light machine gun he had bipoded onto the ground.

He nodded, watching for the hostiles.

"They're almost here! Brace yourselves men!" A spotter on a rooftop of one of the houses shouted.

I looked down my ACOG to see animals running at us but these weren't usual animals. They had white bone all over their bodies, red glowing eyes that looked like it came out of a horror movie.

"Beowolves and Ursa are in the bunch, as well as a Deathstalker! They're within 500 meters!" The spotter shouted.

There was this massive scorpion, I looked up to see Lynn with his mouth agape at the sight in front of him. I looked back to Wesson, waiting for permission to engage.

"These the Grimm you mentioned?" Wesson asked, looking out to the animals we had charging for us. The leader of the defense nodded

"Engage! Light those motherfuckers up!" Wesson said, going prone beside me and opening up on the crowd of animals in front of us.

Lynn's M2 bursts killed a majority of the initial crowd. The 5.56 from our rifles and in Lockhart's case, light machine gun weren't as effective but it was enough to put the Grimm down within three rounds.

"Lynn! Engage the big fucker now!" Wesson shouted, pointing towards the large Scorpion.

Lynn began firing, his .50 deflecting off of the bone of the large animal each time.

"Wess! It's not working, this fuckers just eating the rounds up!" Lynn shouted.

"Fuck this shit!" I shouted, getting up and slinging my rifle onto my back before tearing open the Humvee door and grabbing the AT-4 we had in the back of our Humvee.

"Wesson, I know this is for if we encounter T-72's but we need this now!" I looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody was behind me.

"BACK BLAST AREA CLEAR!" I shouted before looking back down the sights and firing the launcher.

The projectile shot from the launcher hit its target, exploding on impact and sending bits of the animal all over the place

"Fuck yeah!" I shouted, dropping the AT-4 onto the ground and unslinging my rifle from my back. Wesson fistbumped me as I walked past towards the villagers.

"We have questions and you have the answers." I said bluntly.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So after some criticism, I've decided to change up the pacing a bit. I've brought the fireteam back to the town of Surkiyan and will now show their drive out to Vale. I have also _attempted_ to improve on my past/present verb tenses so if there's any issues, just let me know with a review.**

**_Location: Surkiyan, Vacuo_**

**_Date and Time: Unknown_**

**_Identification: Lance Corporal Smith, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment._**

"We have questions and you have the answers." I said bluntly

"We have questions for you as well." The man said as he curiously looked towards the large amount of dead Grimm behind me.

"I'll let you ask the questions first." I said before I turned towards the rest of my guys and signalled for them to come over.

"I am Vermillion Coral, leader of this village's defense team." The man, now known to us as Vermillion announced.

"I'm Lance Corporal Smith of the first Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment." I greeted.

"Corporal Shane Wesson, fireteam leader." Wesson said before he walked in front of me, presumably to do the talking from here.

"Lance Corporal Lynn."

"Private First Class Lockhart."

Vermilion nodded before he continued with his questions.

"First question I have is who are you people? I've never seen those uniforms, weapons or vehicles around here before. Are you Huntsmen or military?" Vermilion asked as his eyes were pointed at our rifles.

I looked down to my MARPAT uniform. It made sense if they'd only seen Army units so far, this digital camouflage was just recently put into service. Weapons and vehicles however should be another story.

"I don't know what a Huntsman is but we're United States Marines." Wesson stated, flicking his selector switch on his rifle.

I followed his lead as I switched mine to semi-auto. I don't like the way the man was looking at our rifles like that, might be planning something.

Wesson, Lynn and I have been in the same fireteam for two years now, we had been combat tested in Afghanistan before being deployed to Iraq for its invasion. Lockhart was the least experienced of the four of us, his first taste of combat being roadside ambushes and the occasional shooters.

I looked over to Lockhart before I tapped him on the shoulder and hinted towards my rifle. He nodded before he pushed the safety button on his M249, a red ring around the button was now visible to see which signalled the weapon was ready to fire.

Vermilion looked at us confused for a second before he nodded. Since he doesn't know our weapon systems, he was probably just in thought about what Wesson said previously.

"So you're military then, I wasn't aware the Vacuan Army were sending patrols out here." Vermilion said as his eyes squinted in thought.

"Gents, have we ever heard of the Vacuan Army before?" Wesson asked as he looked back at the three of us.

"Not to my knowledge, no." I said as Lockhart and Lynn shook their heads.

"Is the United States a village? I'm assuming you men come from an unknown place" Vermilion asked as he went deep into thought once more.

This wasn't a good sign, then again massive scorpions, wolves and bears that had glowing red eyes weren't either. This however was just insane, everyone on the planet knew about the US.

Wait a second, that villager Wesson and I spoke to didn't know about Earth either.

"You're joking righ-"

"Excuse us for a bit Mr. Vermilion, we need a second." I interrupted Wesson, pulling him by his Plate Carrier's drag handle.

All of us walked back to the Humvee, I laid out the map we had gotten off the villager prior to the attack onto the trucks hood.

"Wesson, Lynn, Lockhart. This might sound like I'm going crazy but everything so far is pointing towards it." I paused for a second, looking at the three of them.

"We're not on earth anymore. I know it sounds batshit crazy and you won't believe me but hear me out." Their faces were a mix of disbelief and confusion.

"Go on Lance Corporal." Wesson said, looking down at the map.

"Let's trace back our steps. We were on a patrol with the rest of our platoon, two-four gets struck by an I.E.D and we start clearing houses looking for the detonator. We find him and suddenly we wake up here, good to go?" I said.

"Yeah, we know all that, but what does this have to do with us being in a new planet or some shit?" Lockhart asked.

"I was getting to that you boot, shut the fuck up. Anyway, the point is we were in Baghdad and now we're in the middle of nowhere. These people speak fluent English with American accents and on top of that they have no idea what Earth, the United States or what we are." I asked.

"There is also the fact that we just fought a giant scorpion and a shit ton of weird looking animals." Lynn said as he looked up at the .50 Cal.

"What about our families?" Lockhart asked before he looked towards me.

I looked down at my boots. "Lockhart, I'm afraid we won't be seeing them anytime soon."

Lockhart slammed his hand onto the roof of the Humvee in anger, tears welled up in the corner of his eyes before he turned around and started stepping away. Once he got about three meters or so away he kneeled down, taking his PASGT Helmet off.

Wesson, Lynn and I walked over to Lockhart before we sat next to him.

After a few seconds of us sitting like this, Lockhart spoke up, tear stains building up on his face and his chin. "I spent all deployment thinking about what I was gonna do when I got home. Hug my parents, spend time with my girlfriend. Y'know?" He looked at us to his left and right.

I nodded, having similar plans myself. I know that all of us had the same feelings that Lockhart was going through but this wasn't the time. Crying doesn't help the situation we were in.

"I just don't see what to fight for anymore. I signed up to get revenge for 9/11, not fight in some fantasy world where the US doesn't exist!" Lockhart exclaimed as he punched his fist into the sand.

"Lockhart, listen to me. Right now, we need every man in the game, crying doesn't help." I said as I put my hand on his shoulder. Lockhart kept his eyes pointed down at the sand, before his hand reached down and clenched as he grabbed a fist full of it.

"Look, I know it is hard and it is fucking scary but when we get to a more secure position and we're not caught up in this shit you can break down, you can cry and we will be there for you like we are now. We're all feeling the same but we need to be ready for anything. We're Marine Infantrymen, not some fucking POG's. Semper Fi motherfucker." Wesson said as an attempt to re-motivate Lockhart temporarily.

"Are you not afraid to die out here Corporal? Not for our flag I mean." Lockhart asked as he looked towards Wesson.

"The way I see it, it doesn't matter who you are or where you are. One day death comes, so if we die here, in this world, for each other, then we die for something. No better way to go other than fighting with your brothers." Wesson said as he put his hand on Lockhart's back.

"Semper fucking Fi." Lockhart said as he unclenched his fist and released all the sand that was once held.

Wesson patted Lockhart on the back before standing up. "Come on, we've still got questions to ask."

All four of us walked back towards Vermilion.

"Sorry about that, we've just caught some bad news. Do you have any more questions?" Wesson asked as he looked Vermilion in the eyes.

"I am curious, how do you not know what a Huntsman is?" Vermilion asked.

"I've never heard of the term before. May you please explain it?" Wesson asked.

Fishing for answers is crucial if we really are in a new world, if the map we looked at is correct, this place known as Vacuo is the only Desert and this place called Vale was the closest Kingdom as they had that wasn't in the desert. When we were done questioning Vermilion, I was gonna tell Wesson about it.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses are licensed warriors that are trained to fight Grimm and keep the peace. They're ranked higher than law enforcement and military forces. To become one, they must attend academies in order to earn their license." Vermilion explained.

That sounds like something out of some Japanese comic book. Marines in Okinawa would probably love to be in our position right now.

"It sounds like you know a lot about them, are you one?" Wesson asked.

"I always wanted to be one growing up. Unfortunately, my parents couldn't afford the training and so I dedicated my life to our village security." Vermilion stated.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I'm sure it would be a great honor to fight as one of the best." Wesson said with empathy.

I couldn't imagine not being able to join the Marines after graduating highschool. Whether it's in Iraq, Afghanistan or Remnant. As long as I'm with my guys, I'll be okay. Besides, I joined to leave my family behind.

My situation back at home wasn't the greatest. Growing up, my mother and father always had arguments to the point where police would show up due to noise complaints.

"It's alright, I've had a long time to accept it. Besides, I still get to protect people. The difference is that I just don't have the license." Vermilion said as a smile creeped up on his face.

This is probably the best time to ask about Vale.

"I have a question to bring up as well." I said as I stepped out from behind Wesson.

"What's the fastest way to Vale? I don't wanna seem rude or anything but I think it'd be best to get out of the desert. See a forest or two, right guys?" I asked as I looked towards Lockhart, Lynn and Wesson.

As I received nods of confirmation, I looked back to Vermilion. He brought out a map that had plenty of things written down, like supply routes and safe roads for the villagers to through to get to Vacuo or Vale.

"Anyone in this town wanting to go to Vale? A caravan of some sort? We could pull security for them." Wesson offered.

"Unfortunately, the group that goes out to Vale left yesterday. You don't have to worry so much about security for them because they have weapons. However, we have gotten reports of bandits ambushing unsuspecting caravans on that path before, but that was months ago. you should be fine if you were to follow it." Vermilion said as he pointed to a certain area on the map that was circled in red, most likely to show it could potentially be dangerous.

"Lynn, copy this path to our map. Vermilion, we'd really appreciate it if you gave us a compass for our travels." Wesson said as Lynn walked back to the Humvee.

"I can do that, yes." Vermilion grabbed a compass out of one of his pants pockets.

"Thank you. Once we're done having my Marine copy the route you gave us, we'll give your map back and get out of here." Wesson said.

After a minute or so of standing around, Lynn walked out from behind the Humvee. His hand extended out with the map Vermilion had given him. Vermilion grabbed the map and nodded his head as thanks.

Wesson turned back to us and grabbed the map off of Lynn before he walked back in front of the Humvee and laid it out on its roof. He brought the compass up to the map and after a minute or so of his eyes darting between the two items, he looked back up at us.

"Mount up gents! We're screening east towards Vale with no adjacent support. When we're rolling in the night, let's maintain fifty-percent watch. Bandits may not be frequent but let's be cautious." Wesson said, getting seated in the passenger seat of the Humvee. The rest of us followed, getting into our usual positions. Lockhart driving, myself in the rear driver side seat and Lynn on the turret.

It didn't take long for it to become night time. If I were to estimate, the sun started setting about two hours ago and we had been on the open road for the whole time.

Our PVS-7 Night Vision was an advantage we had in comparison to most people. Thankfully, I got the first sleep along with Wesson.

**_Location: 200 Kilometers from Vale._**

**_Date_****_ and Time: Unknown_**

**_Identification: Lance Corporal Lynn, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment._**

Wearing night vision was terrible. When using these fucking things you had no depth perception, making it nearly impossible to know how far things were at times. I looked down to the driver's seat before pulling a tin of Copenhagen out of one of my plate carrier pouches.

"Dip?" I asked as I extended my hand that held my tin of Copenhagen Wintergreen to Lockhart.

He nodded and grabbed a piece of the tobacco, he then inserted it into his mouth. Say what you will about dipping, smoking or drinking being bad. In moments like this, it's a nice distraction.

"You want charms?" He asked as he offered the pack of candy to me. I grabbed it out of his hands and tossed it out of the window.

"Never let charms into this vehicle again. It's bad luck!" I exclaimed. This was pretty common for people straight out of boot camp, they don't know of the curse that charms hold.

It's common knowledge amongst the Marine Corps that if you ate any of them, you'd be cursed. The yellow ones caused your vehicle to breakdown, the green ones caused rain and the raspberry ones meant certain death. It's rumored that if you were to bring it into a vehicle, you'd be doing the same thing as eating the yellow ones and that vehicle would break down.

I brass checked the M2, ensuring it was loaded for what had to be the hundredth time tonight. If we received any contact, I wanted to be ready.

"Hey Lock, there's some type of pipe in the road. Halt the vehicle." I said.

I looked around, the pipe covered the whole road and there seemed to be a massive ditch on each side that the Humvee would get stuck on. We'd have to move the pipe manually.

"Corporal, wake up." Lockhart said, shaking Wesson slightly.

"What? Is it my turn to drive already?" Wesson asked, dropping his night vision to his eyes.

"There's some pipe in middle of the road, it's blocking us." I said as I scanned for targets in our vicinity. Behind the previously mentioned ditches along the road, there were trees and berms.

Wesson shook Smith until he woke up.

"Smith, Lynn set security. Lockhart and I are going to move that pipe out of the way." Wesson said as he started to dismount from the Humvee.

Crack! Thump!

Sand and dust particles flew into the air as a gunshot was heard from our right, Wesson quickly closed his door.

"Contact right! Contact right! Enemy in the treeline to our three o'clock!" Wesson shouted as he stabilized his rifle onto the window. An audible click was heard as he flicked his selector switch and began to return fire.

I started to fire randomly into the trees in hopes of either hitting the person that shot at us or to suppress them.

"Contact left! Two enemy foot mobiles to our nine! Behind the berm!" Smith shouted as he began to fire his rifle, his PEQ-2 designated his target.

I turned the M2 around and started to engage Smith's target.

"Lockhart! You need to back us up the way we came in!" Wesson exclaimed as he fired off a 40mm high explosive out of his under-barrel mounted M203.

Lockhart attempted to start up the engine but the sound of it revving up never came. He looked back to Wesson.

"It's not starting!" Lockhart shouted.

"It. Was. Those. Fucking. Charms!" I shouted in between bursts with my M2. I flinched as the feeling of cool air and shortly after, the whizzing of bullets as they flew past. The pop of the gun fire resonated in my ears.

**_Location: 200 Kilometers from Vale._**

**_Date_****_ and Time: Unknown_**

**_Identification: Corporal Wesson, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment._**

"Lynn, suppress the motherfuckers to our left. Smith, Lockhart, on me let's take these fuckers out to our right!" I shouted as I opened the Humvee door and jumped out. I fired my rifle into the general direction of the treeline until I heard the sound of a click come from my rifle. I turned the rifle over and saw the bolt was locked to the rear.

"Changing!" I said as I grabbed my now empty magazine and tossed it into my uniforms cargo pants pocket, I grabbed a fresh magazine from one of my pouches on my plate carrier and pushed it into my rifle. I hit the bolt catch on the side of the rifle which forced the bolt forward and therefore loaded a round into the chamber. I then took cover behind a nearby berm.

"Cover me while I move!" Smith shouted as he ran from behind the Humvee towards the ditch on the side of the road and took cover inside of it before he returned fire.

"I'm up! He sees me! Oh shit!" Lockhart shouted, as he ran towards where I was before he dove onto the ground.

"It's _I'm up! he sees me! I'm down._ However, I guess that works too." I corrected as the amount of gunshots increased as we returned and received gunfire.

"I should've joined the damn Air Force!" Lockhart exclaimed before he leaned out from behind the berm to shoot.

"And miss all this fun?" I asked as I tapped Lockhart on the back to tell him to advance.

Lockhart advanced while he fired his M249 before he reached another berm and took cover behind it. He then laid down and set his bipod for his M249 onto the ground and began to return fire.

"Die motherfucker die! Die motherfucker die!" Lockhart shouted as he recited the verse for a ten round burst.

I looked back towards the Humvee to see how Lynn was doing.

"Fuck yeah! Two for one motherfucker!" Lynn shouted as he continued to fire off machine gun bursts into the treeline opposite of where Lockhart, Smith and I were shooting. He turned towards me and spun the .50 Cal towards our treeline. I looked back to Lockhart to see him still set up on the berm I last saw him on.

I hit the button release on the side of my M203, pushing the tube forward. I reached down to my plate carrier and grabbed a high explosive 40mm grenade out of one of my pouches. I slid the grenade into the tube before I pulled the tube down, effectively loading the grenade launcher.

I flipped up the grenade launcher sights I had on my rifles handguard and used it to aim for the treeline before I pulled the trigger.

Lynn started to fire small lines across the trees, the rounds hit from left to right and vice versa. After I watched his tracers impact the treeline for two cycles of him going from left to right and back, I was confident that anyone in there would be dead or bleeding out.

"Seize fire! Seize fire!" I shouted.

"Is that it Corporal?" Lockhart asked as he peeked his head out and looked at the area we took fire from.

"I don't know, let's push out and assess the area. Look for bodies, intel, anything that tells us who these guys are." I said as I walked out from behind my cover.

Lockhart, Smith and I moved towards the enemy position, bounding slowly from berm to berm in case there were still hostiles in the area.

Once we got inside the treeline, I could see the remains of one of their bodies. The torso, arms and legs were the only thing left of the shooter, his head was turned inside out, presumably from the .50 Cal that was being fired into this treeline a couple of minutes ago.

"Lockhart, Smith, set security while I search him." I said as I started to rummage through the pockets of this now deceased assailant.

After looking through all his pockets to find nothing, I stood up and unslinged my rifle from my back before I continued deeper into the trees.

"Wesson, over here!" Smith said before he shot the hostile in the head as a dead check. I ran over and slinged my rifle onto my back and began searching his pockets like I did the other body. This one wasn't hit in the head by the .50 like the other one was, this one was missing his forearm and would've bled out even if Smith didn't pop him in the face, I guess Smith just did it out of mercy.

The only item I found in this guys pockets was a note. I grabbed my red tinted flashlight out of my pocket before I flipped my night vision goggles up. I began to read the note for Lockhart and Smith to hear.

"Your target is a supply truck that will be going down Route 75, take three men with you and set up a roadblock. Once the supply crew start getting out, eliminate them and bring the cargo back to camp." I said before I looked over to Smith.

"What do you make of it?" I asked before I flipped my night vision back down to my eyes

"I think they shot at the wrong fucking truck." Smith said angrily before he spat on the ground.

"Gents, I believe this is either an armed militia or some undisciplined bandits." I said before I stood up and left the treeline.

"Corporal, aren't we gonna look through the rest of the treeline?" Lockhart asked before he followed me.

"Don't need to, that note said they would only have four people. The other two were schwacked by Lynn's .50 on the other side of the road." I said as we linked back up with Lynn on the road.

"Find anything over there?" Lynn asked while he scanned for targets.

"Yeah, two bodies. One got his head turned inside out and the other had his forearm taken off." I said

"Serves 'em right. Any intel?" Lynn questioned.

"Yeah, apparently these guys were planning on hitting a supply truck. That's about it though, their orders had nothing about the camp they were gonna take it to." I explained.

"I saw my rounds hit two of those motherfuckers out there, saw 'em both drop in case you wanna search 'em." Lynn said while he pointed in the general location of the guys he killed.

"I don't think we'll need to, we know these guys were some kind of bandit group, nomadic in some way." I said before I looked towards Lockhart and Smith and pointed towards the pipe in the middle of the road. The two of them nodded before they walked over and got one side of it and struggled to push it into one of the ditches.

I walked over to assist, this thing must've been made of metal or something. Eventually, we pushed it enough to be able to fit our Humvee on the road.

"Mount up gents!" I shouted before I looked back at the Humvee.

"Lockhart and Lynn, you guys catch some shut-eye. Smith, get on the turret." I said as I walked over to the driver side and opened the door. Once everyone got seated, I tried to start the Humvee up. I turned the switch on the left-hand side to run, the wait light turned on and after a few seconds turned off. I flicked the switch once more, this time to start and heard the engine start up.

"Lockhart, how in the fuck were you not able to do this?" I asked while I turned to look at him.

"I was panicking! I think I didn't give enough time with the wait lights." Lockhart exclaimed.

Smith facepalmed; his face showed a mix of confusion and frustration.

"You've been our driver for this long and still don't know how to start our Humvee up?" I jokingly said before I accelerated forward.

**AN: So, their first firefight with humans in this world goes about as well as you'd expect. **


End file.
